15 ADHD Books That Every Parent — and Teacher — Should Read

If you could require your child’s teacher or another caregiver to read one book about ADHD, learning differences, or neurodivergence what would it be?

We asked this question to ADDitude readers, and their answers ranged from picture books about the brain and self-regulation guides to expert advice on teaching twice-exceptional learners and empowering neurodivergent children. Learn more about our top 15 reader-recommended ADHD books to round out any classroom or home library, and see ADDitude reader reviews below.

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“LOVE this book!”

Children with ADHD don’t always respond to traditional discipline and parenting methods, and difficult symptoms can make whole families reach the end of their rope. In this straightforward book, Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D., offers an eight-step plan for proven parenting. Inside, you’ll learn how to use positive attention, effective incentives, and calm consistency to manage ADHD symptoms — and reconnect with your child.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: What Every Teacher Should Know About ADHD: A Poster for School
• Read: 3 Clarifying Principles for Raising a Child with ADHD
• eBook: The ADHD Positive Parenting Guide
• Watch: "6 Principles for Raising a Child with ADHD"

“Absolutely the best book. It helped us understand our child and better advocate for him. It is a must-read for all teachers, IMHO.”

“I gave my superintendent this book.”

“Yes! Yes! Yes! I’ve read this book over and over. I gift it to teachers and counselors (even my granddaughter’s dance coach who just got her first job as a school counselor).”

“I’m reading The Explosive Child and now know what I’m doing for the first time in 13 years.”

In The Explosive Child, Ross Greene, Ph.D., introduces a paradigm for understanding children with ADHD, sensory processing challenges, oppositional defiant disorder, and similar conditions: When children misbehave, it’s often because the demands of the situation exceed what they are developmentally able to handle. Greene teaches parents and children how to problem-solve together using his Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) method. The easy-to-follow book and system provide hope to parents, educators, and children.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Watch: “The Explosive Child: Collaborative and Proactive Solutions for Parents”
• Download: Free Guide to Ending Confrontations and Defiance
• Read: 10 Rules for Dealing with the Explosive Child
• Read: Why Your Child’s ADHD Outbursts Are So Explosive — and Isolating
• eBook: The Parent’s Guide to ADHD Discipline

 “This book opened my eyes to what executive functioning skills are and broadened how we perceived our son’s challenges and needs. It also greatly informed how we explained ADHD to teachers, who still primarily associate it with hyperactivity.”

“This book has been pure gold in helping me understand my daughter (and myself!). I’ve recommended it to every teacher and parent friend I know. It seems like it should be an essential part of teacher training. It could be so helpful, and eliminate so many unneeded frustrations, and get so many kids the help they need at an early age.”

In the follow-up to Smart but Scattered (#CommissionsEarned), this book provides step-by-step strategies to promote your teen’s independence by building executive function skills: brain-based abilities needed to get organized, stay focused, and control impulses. The book’s plan — assessing a teen’s executive skills, using conflict-free tips to bolster them, and knowing when to fade parental supervision before they rebel — is clear and motivational. Smart but Scattered Teens is a must-read for any caregiver or educator determined to help grow the organizational, focus, planning, and motivational skills in teenagers.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: The Top 6 Learning Challenges Associated with ADHD
• Read: The Testing Ground for Executive Functions? Sixth Grade
• eBook: 7 Core Executive Functions in Children & Teens
• Watch: “For Educators: Research-Based Tactics for Improving Executive Functioning in Teens”

“Every single parent and human should read Self Reg. It’s just amazing.”

“I’m an ADHD coach and educator. Self Reg is always my first recommendation.”

“Self Reg is a game changer.”

No matter how difficult, out of control, distracted, or exhausted a child may seem, one thing is true: They aren’t bad, explains Stuart Shanker, Ph.D. They just lack the self-regulation skills to manage their emotions and behaviors. In Self-Reg, Shanker lays out a five-step method to help caregivers better understand the “why” behind their child’s behavior, how to respond to their needs, and what strategies will guide them to a calmer state of mind. Educators can implement the same techniques in classrooms.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: Emotional Regulation & Anger Management Scripts
• Read: How Dysregulated Emotions Hijack the Teen ADHD Brain
• eBook: Mindfulness & Meditation for ADHD Symptoms
• Watch: "Deficient Emotional Self-Regulation: The Overlooked ADHD Symptom That Impacts Everything"

“I highly recommend What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew to teachers and others who care for children.”

Rather than dictate strict discipline instructions for parents of children with ADHD, Sharon Saline, Psy.D., focuses on becoming an empathetic communicator. She offers refreshing insights into the minds and feelings of children with ADHD and offers guidance for interpreting kids’ verbal and behavioral communication.  What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew promotes and powers parent-child collaboration. Saline’s book provides a roadmap for reducing family stress and improving loving connections, while also enhancing cooperation, closeness, and productivity.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Free Webinar: "It’s About Time! Planning, Prioritizing, and Time-Management Solutions for Students" 
• Download: 13 Healthy Responses to Family Drama
• Read: Compare & Despair: Social Media & Mental Health Concerns in Teens with ADHD
• eBook: The Parents’ Guide to Raising a Teen with ADHD, Part One

“I’ve given a copy of this book to teachers.”

 “Let’s also require the principals, the boards of education, and the entire central office to read this (coming from a teacher with ADHD).”

Understanding Girls with ADHD brings attention to the often overlooked female experience of ADHD. Written by Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D.; Ellen Littman, Ph.D.; and Patricia Quinn, M.D., this essential guidebook blends clinical examples, case studies, and research to clearly explain how ADHD manifests differently in girls and women. The book’s strategies for addressing executive function deficits, recognizing comorbid conditions, and advocating for gender-specific treatment will equip and empower readers to better support — and understand — girls and women with ADHD.

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 Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: We Demand Greater Research on Women with ADHD
• Read: Stop the Cycle of Shame for Girls with ADHD
• Read: ADHD in Women and Girls: Why Female Symptoms Slip Through Diagnostic Cracks
• eBook: Women with ADHD — How Hormones, Symptoms & Late Diagnoses Impact Females
• Watch: “The Emotional Lives of Girls with ADHD” 

“I just started reading ‘ADHD Is Our Superpower’ to my kids. After reading about several children in the book, my eldest said, ‘But Mummy, that’s me; I do that. I’m like Vijay, a bit like Eva, Asher, and Zane…’

“Fantastic book.”

Most children with ADHD will recognize themselves in the characters of In ADHD Is Our Superpower — and the challenges they face. However, author Soli Lazarus reframes the view of ADHD symptoms as weaknesses and, instead, describes how traits, such as hyperfocus, impulsivity, and others, are strengths that unlock advantages. Children will relate to the characters and be empowered by their self-advocacy. For example, characters illustrate how to ask teachers for help by asking for visual aids, creating calm spaces, etc. Bonus content for adults includes resources and tips for supporting children with suspected or diagnosed ADHD at home or in the classroom.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: 13-Step Guide to Raising a Child with ADHD
• Read: "You Are Wonderful!" How Praise Triggers Better Control in the ADHD Brain.
• eBook: The ADHD Guide to Making & Keeping Friends
• Watch: “Nurtured Heart Approach: Positive Parenting and Teaching Strategies to Transform Problem Behaviors"

“While this is focused on gifted kids with LDs, it contains exceptional tools and suggestions on accommodations for all neurodivergent students.”

While our understanding of twice-exceptional (2e) learners has improved, many educators still lack the tools to recognize and support their gifted neurodivergent students. Teaching Twice-Exceptional Learners in Today’s Classroom by Emily Kircher Morris fills this void. Topics, such as identifying and understanding 2e students, strength-based instruction, and executive functioning skills, like motivation and self-regulation, round out the first part of the book. The second part discusses how comorbidities, such as learning differences, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), anxiety, and other conditions, affect gifted students. This insightful and informative book will equip educators to better advocate, understand, and support their 2e students.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: Overcoming Common Learning Challenges
• Read: “What Does Twice Exceptional Mean? Identifying and Nurturing Gifted Children with ADHD”
• Read: My Twice-Exceptional Son Isn’t a Problem to Be Fixed
• eBook: How the ADHD Brain Works
• Watch: “2e 101: A Parents’ Guide to Understanding and Supporting Twice-Exceptional Children” 

“Wonderfully Wired Brains is for the whole family. The Illustrations and descriptions are incredible. It really takes you through the whole spectrum of brain types while keeping a very neutral tone about each.”

“The book presents each type of brain as equally valid and lists strengths and challenges for each type of brain. I highly recommend it.”

Wonderfully Wired Brains breaks down the complexity of brain science into easily digestible bites, making the topic accessible and exciting for readers. This encyclopedia-style reference book is jam-packed with tidbits of history and science, plus colorful illustrations. Author Louise Gooding debunks many myths and stereotypes about neurodivergent brains and provides readers with the language to explain how and why different brains make people think, act, and learn the way they do. Sections on ‘brilliant brains in history’ and ‘wonderfully wired people,’ will further educate readers and foster discussions about what neurodivergence means.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Watch: “Parenting Styles That Work for Neurodivergent Children” 
• Free Download: 5 Ways to Build Self-Advocacy Skills
• Read: How to Explain ADHD in Positive, Empowering Terms
• eBook: Secrets of the ADHD Brain

Sensory processing disorder (SPD) manifests in many small, sometimes maddening ways. Itchy tags may be unbearable. Loud music intolerable. Perfume simply sickening. Whatever the symptoms, SPD makes it difficult to interact with your daily environment, which impacts how you relate to others, study and learn, participate in sports and group activities, and follow your dreams. In The Out-of-Sync Child, Carol Stock Kranowitz offers first-person accounts of life with SPD, outlines concrete strategies for teachers, parents, and children to implement together, and provides a unique perspective: that SPD might in fact be a gift.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: What Is Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)?
• Read: What Is Your Child’s Sensory Profile? (And Why It’s Critical to Know)
• Read: How to Engineer Better Environments for a Child with Sensory Processing Disorder and ADHD
• eBook: 9 Conditions Often Diagnosed with ADHD

This comprehensive resource outlines the individualized education programs (IEP) process step-by-step, from the initial testing to annual checkups. It includes valuable worksheets, checklists, and sample forms for parents or teachers to use, making the special education process easier for everyone involved and ensuring children get the best help possible. The newly revised second edition includes up-to-date coverage on testing procedures, autism spectrum disorder, and more.

Buy: The Complete Guide to Special Education (#CommissionsEarned)

Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: How to Create and Maintain Your Child's IEP 
• Read: What Is an IEP? Everything You Need to Know About IDEA, IEPs, and 504 Plans
• Read: Every 504 Plan Should Include These ADHD Accommodations
• eBook: The Complete IEP/504 Guide
• Watch: "Top 10 IEP & 504 Plan Problems: A Troubleshooting Guide" 

Understanding why our kids need to chew gum while practicing piano or squish a stress ball while working on homework makes a big difference in establishing realistic expectations, rewarding positive behavior, and advocating on our kids' behalf. In 8 Keys to Parenting Children with ADHD, Cindy Goldrich, Ed.D., ADHD-CCSP focuses on developing and strengthening effective interpersonal skills in both parents and children as a way to improve conflict resolution, reduce chaos, and build self-esteem. It's an invaluable resource for parents and educators.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: Common Executive Function Challenges — And Solutions
• Read: How to Stop Enabling and Start Trusting: ADHD Independence-Building Strategies for Parents
• Read: The Importance of a Daily Schedule for Kids with ADHD: Sample Routines and More
• eBook: The Parents’ Guide to Raising a Teen with ADHD, Part Two

Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D., presents a new, broader definition of ADHD, which recognizes executive function impairments as the true underpinnings of the disorder, and demonstrates how this “new understanding” is more accurate than the symptoms-driven diagnostic criteria in the DSM-V. Brown’s book is relevant for both adults with ADHD and parents of children with the disorder. He busts myths about the condition, addresses new causes and treatments, and makes it easy for a layperson to understand ADHD research.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: 9 Truths About ADHD and Intense Emotions
• Read: The Mystery of ADHD Motivation, Solved
• Read: The Definition of ADHD: Myths & Truths
• eBook: The Emotions of ADHD
• Watch: “A Careful Diagnosis: Expert Guidelines for Getting an Accurate ADHD Evaluation”

In The Misunderstood Child, Larry Silver, M.D., provides readers with an inside look at what life is like for children with learning differences—like ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. From the genetics of learning disabilities to neurological research, Silver presents a well-rounded resource to help parents and teachers better understand their children or students and become effective advocates for them in school and life.

Buy: The Misunderstood Child (#CommissionsEarned)

Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: Learning Tools That Improve Productivity, Reading, and Writing Skills
• Read: When Schools Resist Evaluating & Addressing LDs
• eBook: Signs & Symptoms of Learning Disabilities
• Watch: “A Parent’s Guide to the Best School Options for Students with ADHD and LD” 

Contrary to popular belief, dyslexia is not reading letters or words backward. It manifests itself in different ways in different people. Author Ben Foss couples practical strategies with personal stories about his experiences living with dyslexia to help caregivers and teachers empower kids with dyslexia and other LDs. Foss challenges traditional beliefs about reading and learning. His paradigm may seem revolutionary, but most of his suggestions are just plain common sense.

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Related Reads & Resources:

• Download: Signs of Dyslexia at Every Age
• Read: The Dyslexia-ADHD Overlap: Why Evaluators Confuse the Conditions
• eBook: A Parent’s Guide to ADHD at School
• Watch: “When Dyslexia and ADHD Overlap: Symptoms, Misconceptions, and Interventions” 

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